Primeval Matriarchy
 
Simon de Beauvoir, "A golden age of women is only a myth -- society has always been male; political power has always been in the hands of men." The Second Sex
 
Claude Levi Strauss ,"Real authority always belongs to men."
 
In the nineteenth century, Swiss anthropologist J. J. Bachofen in his book Myth, Religion and Mother Right (1861) posited the theory that the following two principles were central to the cultures of primitive societies:
 
1. mother right (Das Mutterrecht): customs giving women as mothers and their daughters certain rights including descent in the female line
2.. gynecocracy : rule by women (translated "matriarchy" in the English edition or l967.)
 
One of the popular discussions within feminist discourse has been the speculation that the norm of patriarchy is not only unnecessary, but that it has not always been normative. The place of this discussion in feminist theology is a matter of politics. The assertion that it is natural for a man to rule over a woman or for a society to be organized according to patriarchal patterns of authority leads to the argument that patriarchy in religion is natural and hence proper. Many feminist theologians believe that the archeological record refutes this argument.
 
The archeological record does not speak for itself. It must be interpreted and interpretations of artifacts and ruins tend to be as fraught with the imposition of ideology as is the interpretation of scripture. In this class, we will look at the data and then examine what a few leading scholars conclude.
 
 
Çatal Hüyük - South Turkey
 
Çatal Hüyük, discovered by James Mellaart (1961-63), is the or one of the earliest known cities in the archaeological record. It consists of a series of building dating from 6250-5720.
 
There is no evidence of destruction. Evidence points to a consecutive society and rebuilding with a sudden and inexplicable end to occupancy.
 
The town was built like a beehive: no streets, no large place, no palace.
 
Buildings are made of sun dried, rectangular, mud bricks and reed plaster: adobe.
Entry is through the roof by ladder.
There is very little variation in size of dwelling or indication of disparity in wealth.
 
Each one-room brick house has an interior hearth and oven, a large sleeping platform on the east wall (always). and wooden posts painted red.
 
 
Skeletons of women and some of the children are buried under this platform.
Some smaller platforms have women, men and children buried under them, but never men and children together. (This point may be refuted by more recent excavations the reports from which I have not examined.)
 
Refuse and sewage was deposited in small outer courts.
 
The textiles and pottery are advance for the period but there is no gold or silver.
 
Trade seems to have been far reaching with timber from the Taurus mountains, shells from the Mediterranean, and obsidian from nearby peaks.
 
Crops include: barley, peas wheat almonds, apples and pistachios.
Wine was made from hackberries.
The economy included domestic sheep cows and goats.
 
For the period, the evidence suggests a complicated economy.
 
The city had numerous shrines; one per four or five homes (139 rooms; 40 shrines) based on 63 data.
 
Designation of a shrine is based on wall paintings the earliest of which includes animals and bulls. Later pieces include a picture of a maiden (goddess) running with her hair streaming behind her.
Other artifacts categorized as religious include: bull's horns, bull's heads, plaster goddess reliefs, cult statues, and evidence of elaborate burials. The find includes no altar or evidence of animal sacrifice such as burnt offerings. Offerings seem to be grain, stamp seals, weapons, and votive figurines.
 
The burials are one of the most intriguing aspects of the find. Why would they bury the bodies under the platforms? There appear to be no violent deaths among the 400 bodies found in the first phase of the dig. Eleven of these are called ocre burials because of the presence of cinnabar (mercury oxide). Cinnebar tends to be associated with sacred objects. Ten women were buried with obsidian mirrors, also treated as cultic objects.
 
Most of the bodies are women. One is a premature infant with bright shell and chip of obsidian.
 
What conclusions can one draw? Marija Gimbutas, in The Language of the Goddess, numbers Çatal Hüyük and Knossos as typical matriarchal societies.
 
The Minoan Culture of Crete Artist's depiction of Knossos
 
The second incidence of matriarchal culture in the archaeological record cited by feminists is that of Knossos, the city of the Minoans. Between 3000-1500 BC a vibrant culture existed upon the island of Crete. The archaeological record leaves us no texts. The artifacts include:
 
 
Without a written document telling us about Minoan society much is left to the imagination. Clealry, Minoan culture was different from the militaristic societies of the ANE, but to what extend we cannot say.
 
I am not sure what to make of the archaeological data from these or any other sites, but the discussion has led me to ponder the following question.
 
Could the emphasis upon patriarchy and the androcentric orientation of the legal material of the Bible reflect the difficulty that men faced defining their role within society when the first civilizations began to take form?

Women in the Aegean Bibliography by Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe

Images of Magna Mater